The need for more diverse extra-curricular activities
Disclaimer: This post is specifically written with the British education system in mind. I have no knowledge of any other education system, so I am unable to comment on anything but what I have experienced during my time within the British education system.
We have a lot of subjects which teach us basic skills like Maths, English and Science. Right? Well, this is all fine and dandy and is something that I agree is absolutely necessary in the modern world. However, many of us attend school every single day, yet we learn nothing about what we’re interested in. Some of us know what we’re interested in, and have already decided upon our future careers. In my case, this is computing.
I understand that it isn’t feasible to introduce a computing class into high schools in the UK. There just isn’t enough people interested in computing to justify doing this. However, what is stopping the introduction of an extra-curricular computing class for all students within a LEA?
This doesn’t just apply to computing, this can be applied to a wide range of activities that will help people in their future careers. Photography, for example. We have the ability to study art, but I’ve seen the curriculum for Art & Design, and it does not include photography. Why can’t we offer an extra-curricular photography class for those interested in pursuing photography as a future career?
A lot of people will blame this on government funding. Although this is an issue, I believe that many people use this as an excuse. My school recently spent a lot of money relocating the staff car park. Great, so the staff have a separate entrance to the school. This is great for the staff, but not so great for the students, who are the primary concern in an education establishment.
Instead of employing extra staff for these extra-curricular subjects, we could offer a monetary incentive (much less than a new employment) for college lecturers to teach extra-curricular activities to students in high-school. Colleges have a much wider variety of subjects on offer, so why shouldn’t we offer a small number of these extra subjects to the small amount of bright, passionate and enthusiastic students that desire them.
I hope I’ve left you with some food for thought, please feel free to give me some feedback on this article.
Thanks,
Joshua Lee Tucker
